“I Ain’t Cried Yet”

Richmond, Virginia’s Nickelus F was once a battle rap champ who, in 2007, held a seven-week streak as BET’s “106 & Park” freestyle champion. In the decade since, he’s been pretty low-key: Beside putting out a handful of quiet and cerebral rap records, including collaborations with mixtape-era Drake, he’s focused on raising his twin daughters and getting his degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. His latest mixtape, STUCK, celebrates his recent graduation, and its standout track, “I Ain’t Cried Yet,” is as effortless as it is expressive.

Given his dedication to old-fashioned songcraft—the reason why Drake initially messaged him on Myspace to collaborate—Nickelus’ songs tend to have a throwback sensibility. On “I Ain’t Cried Yet,” his modern, raspy, sing-song flow mixes with the spoken word intricacy of his storytelling in a way that feels both old-school and forward thinking. Among the narratives threaded throughout “I Ain’t Cried Yet” is the difficulty to meld artistry to relevance: “I’d sell out in a heartbeat, if the industry liked me/To sell ticks the whole point, god,” he raps as jazzy synths and slinky bass flow smoothly underneath his confession. Nickelus brings an appealing underdog individualism, and as the journeyman rapper broaches the cost of commercial recognition, his soul-searching hip-hop makes clear he’s deserving of wider recognition.